Second tier tournaments vital to nurture rugby talent

By A Special Sports Correspondent

The conducting of the Governor’s Cup seven-a-side rugby tournament for provincial union teams catered to two interests in the sport; one is giving youth more opportunities to play rugby and the second is to have second tier tournament because all rugby players who are adults cannot find slots in A Division rugby teams.

Western Province’s men and women stole the honours at the one-day seven-a-side rugby tournament which was fairly competitive despite the fact that A Division players were not encouraged to take part at this event.

Tournaments of this nature take our memories back to the glorious years of rugby where even the B Division tournament was keenly contested. This writer remembers how players in the likes of Saman Jayasinghe, Hisham Abdeen, Chandrishan Perera, Baratha Hegoda and even the legendary Fijian Apisai Nagata played for B division teams. This tournament gave former ageing players an opportunity to slip on their boots and be involved in the game. Most of these players took the B division tournament very seriously. One of the teams formed to really give a run to the much fancied B Division teams was Kurunegala RFC. There was one year in the past when Kurunegala RFC won the B Division rugby title and had in their team past greats like Abdeen, Chandrishan and Nagata (Who was coach cum player).

Some of the competitive teams in the B Division tournament in the past were Police ‘Griffins’, CH ‘Kabaragoyas’, Havelocks ‘Bambaras’, Army ‘Colts’, Puffins RFC (Comprising working expatriates stationed in the island), Air Force ‘Chipmunks’, CR&FC ‘Bees’ and Navy ‘Dreadnaughts’. There were newspaper headlines in the past which caught the eyes of readers when a team like Havelocks’ Bambaras smashed Police Griffins at Police Park. On one such occasion a newspaper headline read ‘Bambaras swamp Police Park’. The headline in one of the Sinhala newspapers carried regarding the same match had more punch and read ‘police pitiyata bambara praharayak’ (which translated to English would read Police park comes under attack by honey bees). Sometimes the Sinhala language is much stronger compared to English when an idea has to be conveyed fast and effectively; especially when on the rugby field. When the opposition team used to get some ‘support’ from the referee we have heard in the past comments made in English like ‘Be careful now, the opposite team is playing with 16’. Conveying this message in Sinhala would be much simpler when someone shouts ‘refa hora’-referee you’re not honest!

There were times in the past when teams like Bambaras, Kabaragoyas, University, Bees and Colts could attract large and appreciative crowds for B Division matches. Most of these matches served as family gatherings because by the time one had retired from A Division rugby the player was married and came for matches as a father of many children. The B Division tournament gave an opportunity for past great players to gradually make an exit from the sport and not allow mood swings and depression to set in and fill the void created by retiring abruptly from the sport.

But now both the A Division and B division tournaments are played by either semi professional players or very young amateur players and they don’t show the enthusiasm showed in the past to stay back after a game and socialize. There was much fun and frolic after games in the B division tournaments in the past with beer shandy served in glasses and laid on tables accompanied by tasty mouthwatering snacks and bites.

Today much of those food items and drinks are on the taboo list for professional or serious rugby players.

The recently concluded provincial rugby tournament for the Governor’s Cup also reminds us that the B Division League rugby Tournament was revived last year after a lapse of four years. In this tournament- played for the Rudra Rajasingham Memorial trophy- Army’s ‘Four Wings’ emerged the victor in the finals beating Griffins 24-23. Six teams took part in the tournament. Last season we also saw the conducting of the Plantation Sevens rugby tournament; another event that keeps youth and older rugby players getting less opportunity to play rugby on their toes. The SLR should also consider having the Under 24 rugby tournament for clubs because all these lesser glamorous tournaments will help players play enough games during a season and stay fit and focused on rugby.